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Friday, May 13, 2011

Top 4 Results

**I Apologize for the delay of this recap. Blogspot was having a rough night and wouldn't allow posting, and I think it deleted the Top 4 Performance Blog. But we move on. Thanks.

Welcome back. Well tonight one of the remaining 4 will be sent home. They have come a long way so it’s tough to leave when the finale is so close, but it has to be done. Tonight the Season 10 4th place finisher will join some pretty decent company. They will join Season 1’s Tamyra Gray, Season 7’s Jason Castro, Season 8’s Alison Iraheta, Season 9’s Michael Lynche, and most famous 4th place finisher ever Chris Daughtry. There’s a mix of great success and obscurity thrown in there, we will have to see how Season 10’s 4th place finisher ends up. We picked Lauren and Haley as Bottom 2 and Haley going home. Hopefully both ladies will stick around, given that I think that James had a weaker week, and Scotty has been on cruise control for awhile. We’ll see what happens.

Enrique Iglesias, Jordin Sparks and Lady Gaga will all be performing tonight plus we will get to see Steven Tyler’s new music video. Should be jam packed, so let’s get to it:

James and Scotty Perform:

James hunkers down and sings a little country duet with Scotty. Yes, it’s a strange as it sounds. James does his best, but it’s obvious it is Scotty’s home turf and James is just visiting. I guess it’s easier for James to be a bit more country, then for Scotty to be a bit more rock n roll. Sorry I think I just quoted a Donny and Marie song, I’m ashamed and would hope you all forgive me. Either way the performance was decent, James tried his best I think, and Scotty is just the same as he usually is.

Lauren and Haley Perform:

They also decide to do a little country duet. It’s a little easier for Haley to transfer to a country song, then James. They sound really nice together, they have different voices but it blends really well.

Family Connection

The contestants get to connect to their families through the internet and some web chat. James got to see his girlfriend and son, Lauren got to see her brother and dogs, Haley got to see her father, and Scotty got to see his sister. Very heartwarming, plus American Idol got one of their sponsors a little plug. All in a day’s work.

Results #1:

All four are center stage with Ryan

First SAFE is LAUREN

After Lauren’s almost breakdown last week, I guess the producers didn’t want her to pass out so they decide to not play games with her and sent her back to safely pretty quickly.

Performance #1:

Lady Gaga is not in the American Idol arena or even really playing for the American Idol crowd. We get a taped performance from her concert. She is singing the song that got Haley slaughtered for a bit last week, “You and I”. Obviously it was well done; it’s at her concert and completely in her element. I don’t understand why Lady Gaga couldn’t perform on the Idol stage; she was obviously in the area since the contestants were mentored by her this week. Whatever. Still nice to see her perform, she’s always very good.

Performance #2:

Enrique Iglesias is the next performer. Ryan is up in the grand stands so that obviously means this performance was pre-taped last night or last week, the audience behind Ryan pretends that Enrique is really there and feigns enthusiasm and a good amount of clapping. Either way Enrique Iglesias sings his new song “Dirty Dancer” and his hit song “I Like It”. I’ve never been the biggest fan, but give him credit for still being pretty relevant after being around for a really long time.

Performance # 3:

Jordin Sparks is back on the Idol stage singing her new hit single “I Am Woman”. Not the 1970s “I Am Woman Hear Me Roar” bit more R&B and pop. It’s very Beyonce and a lot less Helen Reddy. Wonder if she heard the comment that Randy made last week about how Jacob Lusk has a bigger better voice than those that sang the song “No Air” performed by Chris Brown and Jordin Sparks. Um Jordin can out sing and out belt anyone, especially Jacob. No respect there by Randy. If that doesn’t prove that 95% of the time Randy really doesn’t know what he is talking about then I don’t know what will. Jordin sounds really good, and looks great. Plus she sang live which is refreshing after back to back pre-taped performances.

Steven Tyler’s New Single:

We also have the privledge of viewing Steven Tyler’s new music video from his new single “It Feels So Good”. This is his solo project, no Aerosmith here. It’s nice to see him sing. After seeing him week after week as kind of aloof and mostly unhelpful as a judge, it’s nice seeing him back in his element. The song is fine, I’m more of “Dream On”, “Dude Looks Like A Lady” kind of person, but still pretty good.

Results # 2:

Scotty, Haley and James are in middle of the stage.

Second SAFE is HALEY.

WOW. I cannot be more thrilled if I tried. Not just because I think she does deserve to be there after getting 2 standing ovations in 2 weeks, but because a lot of people were expecting her to go. It’s pretty incredible. Obviously her performance of I(Who Have Nothing) convinced a lot of people to vote and vote and vote. Plus the fact that she was a little bit of the underdog last night also helps. I picked Lauren and Haley for Bottom 2, and Haley going home, and I honestly have never been so happy to be so wrong.

Neither James or Scotty has been in the Bottom 2, let alone 3, so it will be a huge shock for one of these guys. Whoever is left is not necessarily the next lowest in votes, but it’s still interesting to see one of these guys leave.

Bottom 2/Who’s Going Home

SAFE=Scotty

GOING HOME=JAMES. I want to be completely honest here, I wasn’t the biggest James fan early on, but he really grew on me, and it’s a little sad to see him go. Just a little. He is pretty emotional and is proud that he brought metal and a lot of new things to American Idol.

Final Thoughts?:

*The results tonight were incredibly shocking. I honestly thought that James was making the Top 3 and maybe Top 2. He really was very consistent week to week, but Jacob’s fans that were voting for him were probably not James fans, and they might have gone to Haley. That is possibly a big contributing factor for this elimination.

*So after 5 ladies going home in a row, it is now 2 ladies and 1 guy left. Incredible. After Pia left I think everyone assumed that 2 if not 3 guys were going to be in that Top 3. It is a true testament to Haley and Lauren for sustaining and doing so much to stick around. So at a minimum we are guaranteed at least one of these ladies being in the Top 2. It’s going to be tough going against Scotty, who I think has been the number one vote getter this season, but if Haley and Lauren can do what they did last night, then it’s possible that they can make it a female Top 2 for the first time since Season 3 between Diana DeGarmo and eventual winner Fantasia Barrino.

*Just don't think there were enough performances in this show. Jeez. I know there are only 4 people left and the results show is an hour long, but instead of all this filler how about 2 performances and the results in 30 minutes, instead of 4 performances and the results in an hour? Probably never going to happen unless FOX finds a 30 minute show that would be close to equaling the ratings it gets for this full hour Results Show.

*I give the audience a lot of credit for seeing past gender and really voting for who is best. Haley and Lauren out performed James last night and the results showed it. Gives me some hope that maybe all those teeny boppers who were supposedly not voting for the females early on, aren’t the only ones voting. It’s a nice sight to see.

Come on back next week when these Idols will take on 3 songs each and get to enjoy their hometown visits. Should be a lot of fun, tonight definitely was. See you then.